Shock-absorber.



N. ST. FRANCIS.

SHOCK ABSORBER.

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Patented Aug. 9, 1910.

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ATTORNEYS.-

NAPOLEON ST. FRANCIS, OF CHIGOPEE FALLS, MASSACHUSETTS.

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Specification of Letters latent.

Patented-Aug. 9, 1910..

Applicationfiled January Il, 1910. Serial No 536,164.

To all whom it may coftoern;

Be it knownthat I, NAPOLEON ST, FRAN- ors, a citizen of the'UnitedStates of Amer ica, residing at Chicopee Falls, in the county of Hampdenand State of Massachusetts, have invented a new anduseful-Shock-Absorber, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in what are commonly knownasshockabsorb ers, that is, devices designed to takeup 01f compensatefor sudden and excessive strain to which the resilient supports ofvehicles are subjected whenever obstacles are encountered or theroad-ways are rough or uneven; and said invention consists essentiallyof a split-ring spring and a. pair of angularlyarranged arms havingcontiguous or abutting terminals held 1n the grasp of said spring andadapted to have their opposite ends connected with compressible andexpansible members,or members so arranged that they vibrate under theirload, all'as hereinafter set forth.

The object of my inventionis to provide simple and inexpensive yetefiicientmeans for relieving vehiclef springs and the like I fromfshockin either direction, or, in other Words from the shock of the upwardrebound as Well as that from the downward jolt of the load, to the endthat such springs are saved from breakage and other injiiryi andthecomfort of riding resulting from the increased ease of motion is greatlyenhanced. I

Other objects will appear in the course of the following descriptlon.

-I attain these objects by the means illus--' trated in the accompanyingdrawings, in whichr Figure l is a perspective View ofas pring unithaving a practical form of my nvert, tion incorporated therewith Fig 2,a side elevationof the'sho'ck absoi'ber-s'hown in the preceding; view,with so much. ofthe spr n' unit as is necessary-for the connect1ons,, an

1sn'y {use l' forfapplication 'beneatlivehicle; beams; it is adaptablefor bicycle and-motor:

F15. 3, a side elevation illustrating a modi- I fie" .form ofthe'devicel similar parts" cycle saddles, and any other resiliently-supported load-carrying device where a sprin unit of the elliptic-type orequivalent yiel 4 ing support is employed and it is desired to absorbthe sho'ck'to which such unit or support may be liable.

The twoforms of my device herein shown and describe'dareverysimple, soalsoare their applications, and although entirely practical I do not;intend to be unduly re-, stricted tothis disclosure, since more'or lesschange -may be made therein in matters of shape, size, means ofconnection, and .minor details of construction. In line with this it maybe well'to note, too, that .the device can be used with most if not allkinds of ordinary elliptic spring units or similar yielding supportswhich approach and re cede and thereby decrease and increase the spacebetween them, so that limitation to the particular spring unit-hereinappearing is not to be presumed.

The spring unit with which my shock absorber is illustrated, shown,infull in Fig. 1 and fragments of which'a ppear-"in Figs 2 and 3,consists of rig-idftop barfortube'' '1, an elliptic spring 2madeup-"offtwo leaves andh'aving one end pivoted at 3 to one'jeiid ofsaid bar vor tube, anda link, 4 b'ymeans of which the opposite'endof'saidspi ing is connected withthe opgositeend of the tube, saidl'i nkbeing pivofte to thetube at- 5 and to the spring at .6; These parts areold a'nd well-known and function in the usual manner as yieldingsmpporting means for" a vehicle body,or, it might be, for a vehicleseat. v

in the first two views, comprises a split-ring i 9 The shock absorberitself, as represented spring 7 and two arms 8 mitered at 9'andnotchedat 10-v10 to receive the adjacent edges of the transversely. cutspring.- The notehesio are cut in the outside edgesof the arms 8 a shortdistance from the ends of the abutting or mitered edges of said arms,and the split part of. the spring 7 fits int-of said notchesand normallyr'ctains'said mitered edges together so that the arms are spring 7. Thusit is that the spring 7 tends I always to close the miter joint 9whether the latter be opened by pressing the ends of the arms 8 whichare opposite to such joint toward or away from each other, and doesclpse the same after gradually checking, by reason of the increasingtension which said spring puts upon the mutually swinging arms whentheir state of rest is disturbed, the movement of said arms. Theaforesaid state of rest obtains when the mitered edges of the arms abutthroughout their entire lengths.

The ends of the arms 8 opposite the joint 9 are respectively connectedpivotally with the tube 1 and the elliptic spring 2 intermediate oftheir ends, the upper arm being pivoted at 11 to said tube and the lowerarm being pivoted at 12 to an anchorage device attached to said spring.Said anchora e device consists in the present case of a p ate 13 havingfour laterally-extending ears 14, clips 15 and 16 adapted'to embrace thespring .2 on top and at the sides and to passtlirough said ears and withthe assistance of nuts 17 to hold said plate tightly against theunderside of said spring, and a bolt 18 which passes upward through theplate and spring and has a nut 19 on its upper terminal toprevent anymovement on the part of the device longitudinally of the spring. Thepivot 12 is a lateral extension of the horizontal part of the cliplfi.

From the foregoing it is clear that, when the tube 1 is borne downagainst the resiliency of the elliptic spring 2, the arms 8 are swung ontheir pivotal points 11 and 12 and open the joint 9 at the outer endagainst the resiliencyof the split-ring springi', and that, upon therebound caused by relieving said elliptic spring of its augmented strainor load, provided :such rebound be sufliciently great as it usually is,said arms are again swun on their pivotal points and open said jolnt atits inner end against the resiliency of said spring 7, the latterservingin the first instance to relieve the spring .2 of part of its load andassist said spring in making its recovery, and in the second instance toprotect-the spring 2 and assist the parts to resume their normalpositions and conditions.

Under the foregoing conditions incident to the espring unit or supporthereinbefore describv the shock absorber acts. at all times. as a bufferfor said unit or support and in cgnjunction therewith, eliminatingpractically all shock and jar and obviating all danger of injury orbreakage to the main supporting spring, and materially increasing theease with which one can ride when supported by these elements.

In the construction shown in the last view the same elements are used asbefore, but the upper arm 8 is here prolonged and bent downward to forma vertical or approximately vertical extension 20. The base of theextension 20 is mounted on the pivot 12, instead of the lower arm 8being mounted on such pivot as in the first case, andsaid lower arm inthis case is mounted on the pivotll. The only diiference operationbetween the two constructions is that the miter j oint'9 of the secondopens at its inner end when the tube 1 is forced from its normalposition toward the elliptic spring 2, and said joint opens at the outerend when said tube is forced from its normal position or beyond itsnormal position away from said spring, While the miter joint in theother case opens in the opposite manner in each instance. The resultsaccruing from the two constructions are substantially the same.

This shock absorber is very compact, and can be applied with littledifficulty to various kinds of yielding supports, advantages due to itssimplicity of construction, few number of. parts, and the peculiarcharacteristics of the Splitring sprlng. Furthermore, it should not beoverlooked that this latter, the split-ring spring, is especiallyvaluable for my purpose to which it is inherently and excedingly welladapted.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, a shock absorber comprising two arms-.forming a miter joint at one end, and a resilient member clamped on tosaid arms at their mitered terminals and adapted to yield to permit saidjoin-t to open at either end.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a shock absorber comprising two armsarranged to form a miter joint at one end,.and a splitrrin spring, themitered terminals of said arms lieing heldbetween the transverse edgesof said spring. V

3. The combination, in a shock absorber, with a yielding sup ortcomprising members one of which is a apted to be moved to ward and awayfrom the other, of two arms arranged to form a miter joint at one end, aresilient memberclam ed onto said arms at theirmitered termina sandad-apted to yield to ermit said joint to open at either end, andmeans to connect-the-tenninals of said arms which are opposite to saidjoint .;re+ spectively with the aforesaid members of said 'eldingsupport, I

4;, I he combinatiomin a shock absorber, witha. yielding sup comprising..merne hersonefof which is a to approach and,

'reeede from the other, of two arms arran ed mernbers of said yieldingsupport at interto form a miter joint at one end, and a sp itmedlatepoints.

ring s ring the mitered terminals of said arms eing held between thetransverse NAPOLEON FRANCIS edges of sald spring, and said arms havingWitnesses:

their terminals opposite said joint pivotally- F. A. CUTTER, connectedrespectively with the aforesaid A. C. FAIRBANKS.

